Colorado Rockies: How Ryan McMahon’s 2021 season will be different in many ways

Heading into the 2021 season, Ryan McMahon is, perhaps, the guy who will have the most pressure on him to succeed with the Colorado Rockies in 2021.

After the departure of Nolan Arenado, McMahon, 26, was looking at moving to become the team’s everyday third baseman. McMahon had been the team’s primary second baseman in the last two seasons but he is a natural third baseman.

With him moving to third base, Brendan Rodgers had an opening to become the team’s Opening Day second baseman. However, with his hamstring injury that will keep him out for “at least a month” as of last Friday, McMahon has seen more time at second base in recent games.

Considering the team’s players and the positions that they play, the Rockies look like they would use Josh Fuentes as the primary third baseman and McMahon as the primary second baseman.

But, yesterday, I asked Rockies manager Bud Black whether or not he expects to see McMahon more at second or third base to start the season, and here’s what he had to say.

“I think, right now, you could expect to see (McMahon) more at second,” said Black. “We’d (likely) put Josh (Fuentes) at third, and we’d put, potentially, Cron at first (but) there could be times when Mac shifts back to third and we play (Garrett) Hampson or (Chris) Owings at second. Again, we go back to the versatility aspect. We know that all these guys bring that. Once we get the season rolling, you know, guys might need a day off, or, you know, there’s performance things to the versatility of these guys, you know, benefit them at the team.”

So McMahon will likely see time at both positions but primarily second base, at least until Rodgers comes back or somebody else proves themself at third or second base.

Ryan McMahon has seen time at first in the past but the Rockies aren’t likely to use him there.

Despite playing the majority of his games at first base in 2018 and 31 games there in the last two seasons, you likely won’t see McMahon at first base to start the season unless there’s an injury or the Rockies are out of bench players.

“You know, we’ve talked about (playing McMahon at first base) in a pinch,” said Black. “I mean, it could happen further down the road if Brendan (Rodgers) comes back and is on our roster, or if somebody else emerges at second base–and we like Josh (at third base)–but I would think that Josh always has the capability to go on first base, too. We saw that last year, as well. And Josh played really well at first base offensively (and defensively). So I can’t speak enough to the versatility but I wouldn’t, at this point, want to move Mac around to three infield positions on a regular basis.”

And McMahon has said numerous times in recent years that he doesn’t really care where he plays, as long as he is on the field and he reiterated that on Monday when he spoke with the media.

“That’s baseball,” said McMahon. “Anything can happen on any day so I’ve stayed ready–me personally. Hopefully, we get Brendan (Rodgers) back really quick but I’ll do whatever (Bud Black) asks me to do.”